Word count guide
How many pages is 20,000 words?
20,000 words is about 40 pages single-spaced or about 80 pages double-spaced. It takes about 1 hr 40 min to read and 2 hr 34 min to say out loud.
Pages
20,000 words in pages by font and spacing
A single-spaced page in 12pt Times New Roman with 1-inch margins holds about 500 words, and a double-spaced page holds about 250. Arial is a wider font, so the same text takes roughly 10% more space. Headings, lists and short paragraphs add to the page count.
| Font | Single-spaced | Double-spaced |
|---|---|---|
| Times New Roman, 12pt | 40 pages | 80 pages |
| Arial, 12pt | 44 pages | 89 pages |
Time
How long 20,000 words takes to read, say and type
Most adults read silently at around 200 words per minute and speak at around 130 words per minute when presenting. Average typing speed is about 40 words per minute. Writing 20,000 words by hand at about 15 words per minute would take around 22 hr 13 min.
| Task | Slow | Average | Fast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading (silent) | 2 hr 13 min | 1 hr 40 min | 1 hr 7 min |
| Speaking (out loud) | 3 hr 2 min | 2 hr 34 min | 2 hr 13 min |
| Typing | 13 hr 20 min | 8 hr 20 min | 4 hr 46 min |
In practice
What a 20,000 word piece looks like
This is a substantial document that takes days or weeks to write. It is roughly 1,000 to 1,333 sentences and about 94,000 characters without spaces.
Writing at this length is common for:
- Undergraduate dissertations
- Master's thesis chapters
- Novelettes
- Short ebooks
Check your text
Count your words against a 20,000 word target
Paste your draft below to see how close you are. Everything runs in your browser, so your text is never uploaded. For the full tool, open the Word and Character Counter.
FAQ
20,000 words: common questions
How many pages is 20,000 words?+
20,000 words is about 40 pages single-spaced or about 80 pages double-spaced, using 12pt Times New Roman with 1-inch margins. In Arial it runs slightly longer, at about 44 pages single-spaced.
How long does it take to read 20,000 words?+
At an average silent reading speed of 200 words per minute, 20,000 words takes about 1 hr 40 min to read. A fast reader at 300 words per minute needs about 1 hr 7 min.
How long is a 20,000 word speech?+
Spoken at a typical presenting pace of 130 words per minute, 20,000 words lasts about 2 hr 34 min. Depending on your pace, plan for 2 hr 13 min to 3 hr 2 min.
How many paragraphs is 20,000 words?+
20,000 words is usually 133 to 200 paragraphs, assuming paragraphs of 100 to 150 words. Online writing tends to use shorter paragraphs, so expect the higher number for blog posts.
How long does it take to write 20,000 words?+
Typing at an average 40 words per minute, 20,000 words takes about 8 hr 20 min of pure typing. Real writing with research, planning and editing usually takes three to five times longer.
Other word counts
Related reading: How long should a blog post be? and How many words is a 5-minute speech?